Ann Mateo - FHM's #NewCrush May 2015

We won’t beat around the bush: Ann B. Mateo (don't forget the middle initial!) has been on our radar for a long time now.

The morena beauty has been a regular at car shows—where our interactions with her were, unfortunately, mostly limited to quick snapshots before we'd get pushed out by her throngs of fans. We did get to ask her once if she'd like to grace our pages. She declined then.

Heartbreak.

Like a lovelorn high-schooler, we sought an explanation from her as though that would heal the wounds of the past: "When someone mentions FHM, the first thing that comes to mind is daring siya. Ako, I really don't know how to be a tease, how to become seductive. Hanggang cute lang ako."

Since our initial encounters, we’ve been quietly keeping track of the pretty 22-year-old. In just a span of two years, she has blossomed into one of the most popular car show models in the country, with nearly 600,000 followers on Facebook, and once hosted her own show on travel video site Upload.com.ph. She also regularly tours the country as one of the "Paint Babes" for A-Plus Weather Paint. For our young star, the constellations seem to be lining up for her, with nowhere to go but up.

Thankfully, her path includes her much-awaited FHM appearance, about which she had a little something to say: "At first, I really felt nervous since I'm not really used to being photographed in my undies. Kinakabahan talaga ako. But then after a while I felt comfortable na. Parang ganun din lang pala, it's the same thing kapag nagsusuot ako ng maiigsing damit." (Hear that, girls?)